THE CHAIRMAN of the Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regulation Commission at the House of Representatives sought amendments to the Philippine Nursing Act to allow the hiring of nurse practitioners and nursing assistants.

Rep. Alexie Tutor said that the plan of Health Secretary Ted Herbosa to hire nursing graduates who failed the board exam is not allowed under the Philippine Nursing Act or the PRC Modernization Act.

“Republic Act 9173 and RA 8981 do not provide for any circumstance or situation wherein either the Nursing Board or the PRC is authorized or empowered to issue any temporary license to practice the nursing profession. We are aware of no precedents for the issuance of temporary professional practice licenses,” she said.

However, Tutor said that RA 9173 has a provision under Section 15 allowing those examinees to retake the exam for those subjects where they got ratings lower than 60 percent.

“Special examinations can be scheduled for those. This is one way for the DOH and PRC to achieve what they would like to happen: have more passers of the nursing boards,” she said.

The lawmaker proposed that instead of hiring near passers, the DOH should hire several unemployed passers of the nursing boards to fill up the vacancies in DOH-run hospitals.